Op-ed: Roma Dawson was a force of nature

“She was such a force of nature in her enthusiasm for making our city, county and the whole Bay Area a better place.”

One of many comments shared about Roma Dawson, a dynamic activist who succumbed to cancer last December.

Many knew Roma as a longtime dedicated League of Women Voters and community member for San Jose and the Bay Area. Roma focused on housing and touched many other programs in her work, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and was director of public policy for San Jose.

In 1982, Roma was in the second class of the Santa Clara County Coro Women’s Leadership Class, a national organization for leadership training in public affairs. It was a time of very few women in public affairs, except for San Jose and Santa Clara County — the Feminist Capital of the World.

Coro Fellows were trained in multiple arenas for service in public life. This included researching public issues collaboratively, interviewing community leaders, developing recommendations on issues, public speaking and most important — building confidence in their own ability to participate.

The Coro experience launched Roma’s career in a number of political, governmental and community organizations over the next 40 years. Her knowledge of local government and community affairs was vast and her network of people and affiliations endless.

Roma earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Berkeley in 1972 and was unstoppable from there.

She taught GED, high school equivalency classes to U.S. Army soldiers in Wackernheim, Germany for about a year.

She moved into the political scene, participating in the core staff of Tom McEnery’s first campaign for San Jose mayor. Roma was also part of core staff for Zoe Lofgren’s campaign for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

While on former Mayor McEnery’s staff from 1983-89, she drove the founding of the first San Jose America Festival — a Fourth of July celebration in Discovery Meadow. The San Jose Symphony performed a live concert finishing with Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with the firing of an antique cannon during appropriate moments. She also served as chief of staff for San Jose Councilmember Charlotte Powers from 1993-98.

Roma had a longtime leadership association, including as president, with Tapestry In Talent, producing the Tapestry Arts Festival on Labor Day weekends. For a period of time, she was on the board of the San Jose Stage Company, “the South Bay’s leading professional theatre company.”

She was employed by the San Jose Downtown Association from 1990-92 and then employed as director of citywide marketing by the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau from 1999-2002, with a focus of marketing San Jose as a “destination.”

She served in the district office of Congresswoman Lofgren from 2002-05, focusing on immigration problems. She served as a council assistant to San Jose Councilmember and later former Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez from 2004-06.

After working on Sam Liccardo’s election to the San Jose City Council, she served from 2007-10 as a council assistant and senior council assistant.

As a member of the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara from 2013-25, she served on the board of directors and as chair of the Housing Action Committee, followed by serving on the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area and as co-president from 2022-25.  The League benefited from her humor, creativity and strong leadership skills.

Roma’s work is her strong legacy. San Jose is a better place because of Roma Dawson. She is and will continue to be missed and we honor her with this tribute.

Marieann Shovlin and Madeline Kronenberg are co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area. Carol Watts is vice president of the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara. Raeena Lari is Director at Large of the League of Women Voters Bay Area.